[identity profile] secretivexhero.livejournal.com posting in [community profile] ontd_football
Story #1: Giggs backs Nani to become the new Ronaldo

Ryan Giggs believes Nani is finally beginning to realise his potential and he could soon be as good as Cristiano Ronaldo was for Manchester United.

Nani has flourished this season, helping to fill the void left by Antonio Valencia's serious injury by making a place in the side his own.

The Portuguese midfielder has already contributed two goals and five assists to United's Premier League campaign. He scored twice for his country in Friday's 3-1 Euro 2012 qualifying defeat of Denmark and provided the third for Ronaldo.

Giggs told the People: "I think Nani is ready to step up to that next level now. He has always been a match-winner but he needs to do it consistently. This season he has already made seven or eight goals and scored a couple but he can do better as well and improve and there is more to come.

"He's definitely beginning to add something that perhaps we lacked since Cristiano left and he's filling that gap better now. Those strikes from outside the box and the type of run and goal we saw at Bolton recently show that he's got that in him.

"What he needs to do now is add more goals to his game. He needs to score 20 goals a season and make 20 goals. If he does that - and he is capable of it - that is all you can ask from a wide player.

"I am obviously one of the senior players here now and I speak to the wingers all the time about positional play. When they first come they probably don't know their defensive duties as well in 4-4-2.

"But I've played a lot of that and I understand what is needed from a player who plays out wide and has an attacking role. You speak to those in your position all the time and Nani is very good at listening to that kind of advice.

"I have experience to pass on to the younger players and I do that with Nani. He needs to get more composure in the final third but he is still relatively young and I am certain he will add more goals to his game."

Giggs, who turns 37 next month, never believed he would still be playing to this age.

He said: "When I joined United I honestly never thought it would last this long. At the start you just set little goals, like get to the first team. Then you get more greedy and you want to win things and score more goals.

''When I was 18 or 19, Bryan Robson was 35 or 36 and the thought of me playing at that age was a million miles away. But it's here now and I'm passing advice on to the young lads like Robbo did to me.

"Paul Scholes and Gary Neville started here the same time as me but we don't really talk about the journey we've had. We talk more about what we are ­going to do when we finish. There is a great banter between us, but we don't talk about what we've achieved because at United you ­always look forward never back.

"I'm sure if we meet in a pub in five years time then we will talk about that then.

"I've been lucky to have stayed at United all my career but it can be hard for other players. For me, there's not been many times when I've not been getting picked. There's the odd time where there's a loss of form, you're dropped or you don't play the odd game - but I knew that if I played well I would get back in.

"But some players like Phil Neville and Nicky Butt, who are great friends of mine, left because they were not playing regularly. I wanted them to stay but I would never have told them to stay because there are different circumstances.

''I've always played at a club that has won things and always been up there so others might want to go to a bigger club - and why not? Some players move around a lot but it's just what football is like at the moment compared to how it was 20 or 30 years ago."

Source

Legend.

Story #2: Ferguson reveals Berba talk

Sir Alex Ferguson feels an early season chat has helped get the best out of Dimitar Berbatov this season.

The Bulgarian star has started the season in fantastic form with six goals in his first seven league games.

Berbatov arrived in the summer of 2008 from Tottenham, but struggled to live up to expectations prior to the current campaign.

Now he is starting to deliver Ferguson insists that he had little doubt that Berbatov just needed time to find his confidence.

"I just had a word with him at the start of the campaign," said Ferguson.

"I told him: 'Look, only you can solve this conundrum. You're the one in control here. You've got fantastic ability and you need to realise that ability and make the most of it. We'll be here to support you'.

"And he's started the season in terrific form for us. Dimitar has been, without doubt, our star forward."

Ferguson feels any player signed by United generally needs time to adapt to the club.

"When you bring a player to Manchester United, not everybody takes to the situation straight away.

"Not all signings become hits overnight.

"Valencia did, of course, but he's almost an exception. Others take time, and Dimitar was a bit like that. It's just a fact.

"Nobody's ever doubted the ability of the lad, but what we're seeing now is a striker who's playing with belief and confidence.

"All strikers are massively reliant on those two factors - belief and confidence.

"And at the moment Berbatov has both."

Source



Patrice and Giggsy say TYFYT and stay classy.

Edit: Now that we've talked about the topic at hand, can we discuss how sexy Chicharito is? Yes? No? Maybe so?

Date: 2010-10-12 10:26 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] leinyan.livejournal.com
I am happy! I just never wanted him to leave us ):

Date: 2010-10-12 10:40 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] verses.livejournal.com
I totally, totally understand. I'm actually a lapsed-Manc, in that I haven't followed the EPL hardcore since 2000, but I want United to succeed and I would NEVER support another English team. I did tune back in during Ronaldo's years, but I didn't really track United's rivals or obsess over the standings, so I don't really consider myself worthy of the "fan" title for that era. I have been tuning back in out of curiosity about Chicha and watching some other EPL games, though, so we'll see. But I think Ronaldo leaving United is for some people as painful as it would have been for Cantona to leave United while I was a hardcore Manc. At least he's still on good terms with Sir Alex and a lot of the players, though! It could be more acrimonious.

Date: 2010-10-12 10:58 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] leinyan.livejournal.com
I was pretty resigned to the fact that he would leave us but I am still not over it as I said like a dozen times in this post ): and lol I was a fan when Cantona left too ):

I'm really excited about Chicharito though - the last player I got like this over was Ronaldo. I'm glad things didn't end badly like they have done with some other players though, I really don't like it when people fall out :/

Date: 2010-10-12 11:07 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] verses.livejournal.com
At least it was foreshadowed, you know? And at least he stayed long enough to take United to the CL, and at least he left for a team he'd dreamed of. With RM on the table, I don't think he would have stayed nearly as long for Sporting or any other team – to me, the fact that he remained with United shows just how much he loved the team, and will always love the team.

Agreed! I'm kind of like, "HOLD ON" to the people who are saying Chicha is THE NEXT RONALDO because he has many seasons ahead of him to prove himself. Sir Alex is FOREVER my coach. I love Mourinho and I'm Portuguese for life, but Sir Alex was my coach for 15 years and he will never stop being my coach. I got teary when he was asked if he would pay 60 million euros for Messi and said no, but he'd paid 60 million to get Ronaldo (and only Ronaldo) back. LOVE THEM SFM.

Date: 2010-10-12 11:22 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] leinyan.livejournal.com
I honestly can't thank him enough for all the things he helped us achieve. if he ever came back I wouldn't be able to handle it, idc how much we'd have to pay for him.

lol I adore Chicha but so far it's mainly because he scored with his face and had a run in with a farmer but he has a lot of potential and with enough luck he could do great things for us too. he'll never be the next Ronaldo, nobody will. he'll just become his own player I hope.

Date: 2010-10-12 11:11 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] verses.livejournal.com
ALSO, the fact that he stayed at United after the WC fiasco says A LOT. I know the shit he got from non-Utd English fans (who single-handedly stole the Young Player award from him) killed him and it took a lot of love from Sir Alex and the rest of the team to keep him there. So, for all of the "DISLOYALTY" stuff some people level at him, I think he has shown loyalty, in that he stayed during a wave of serious hatred (and constant waves of hatred from the English tabloid press) and in that he stayed two years after RM was first on the table. He loved you, still loves you. :)

Date: 2010-10-12 11:17 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] leinyan.livejournal.com
yeah, I admire him so much for everything that happened especially that he deferred a lifelong dream to stay with us for a while longer. I will defend him forever ):

Date: 2010-10-12 11:12 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] verses.livejournal.com
Sorry, I articulated that poorly – I mean, ALTHOUGH I'm still kind of like HOLD ON to the Chicha fangirls. Meaning, I'm excited/eager to see what happens but not totally crazy/preemptive.

Profile

ontd_football: (Default)
ONTD Football

May 2017

S M T W T F S
  1 2 3 4 5 6
78910111213
14151617181920
21222324252627
28293031   

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated Jun. 22nd, 2025 03:52 pm
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios